What’s a writer? Part 4

Do you like to read? You’ll be doing a lot of it

It’s a question that you’d think had an obvious answer, but isn’t considered when aspiring as a writer. Most people either do or don’t. It’s like ice cream flavors, you may like chocolate, vanilla, or potato chip flavor but, you likely don’t think about why. You just like it. It’s a similar thing with whether you like to read or not, either you do or don’t. I do like to read, and usually, it doesn’t matter whether it’s fiction, or an article or book to teach me a new skill. I learned different sewing techniques from reading articles about them. The question of reading itself is important to the creation of writing because not only does it require several read overs to get it right, but you get to play two parts in that process of reader and writer. Yes, there’s more to the question than just what I’ve already covered. One glaring thing may be that if you don’t like to read, then how do you know what you should write? Something more subtle and equally important here to me isn’t so much whether you like reading, but what do you get from it. No matter what I read, I always come away from some sort of insight into the situation being discussed because let’s be honest, nothing is ever written that doesn’t present an event or learning opportunity. You could look from horror to kid’s books or gardening, to musical pieces and you’ll still find an event or learning opportunity present. Musical pieces just have the benefit of you getting to hear the story and interpret it, based on what you know of the setting and atmosphere the music creates.